Confessions of a Collector

There are very few people who do not collect something, consciously or otherwise. The perennial popularity of such television shows as Antiques Roadshow is eloquent testimony to the enduring appeal of collecting. As a compulsive collector of items as diverse as comics, coronation mugs, British prime ministerial autographs, football memorabilia, and wickerwork from Botswana, Hunter Davies is well placed to write about the fascinations and frustrations of "treasure-hunting." Here he writes affectionately about 50 different collections that he has built up over the years from first issues of magazines and newspapers to Beatles memorabilia. In his inimitably enthusiastic style, he describes how his collections came into being, tells the intriguing stories behind the items in them, and recounts his triumphs and disasters. He also discusses the nature of the urge to collect and how people can set about building their own collections. He touches anecdotally on the economics of collecting, but this is not a book of lists, facts, and figures it is a book to be read and savored, rich in vignette and reminiscence drawn from the deep well of its author’s multi-faceted enthusiasms.